Thursday, March 1, 2018

February 2018 Summary


A warm and wet February

The first half of the month was a bit colder than average, however the heat really kicked into gear in the second half resulting in an overall temperature that was a little over 2 degrees higher than average.

Within that second half was the high of 15.6°C on the 20th that was the highest February temperature we have seen in the over 100 years of weather data in the region.  Of course that might sound familiar as the previous highest February temperature was just last year when it got up to 15.1°C.

It was the wettest February in the last 5 years with 84.0 mm compared to the average of 54.9 mm.  About half of the monthly total came during 2 really wet days (19th and 20th) when a total of 38.8 mm of rain combined with warm temperatures to melt almost all of the snow that was on the ground.

Before that rain, we saw 25 cm of snow during the first half of the month which is close the average for February of 30.3 cm.  That brings the total snowfall to 91 cm, which is now getting farther behind the average of 125.6 cm for this time of year.


Summary for February 2018:
Maximum Temperature 15.6°C
Minimum Temperature -21.6°C
Average Daily High Temperature 1.5°C (Long term average -1.2°C)
Average Daily Low Temperature -8.1°C (Long term average -9.7°C)
Total Precipitation 84.0 mm (Long term average 54.9 mm)

(Long term averages based on 1981-2010 data for the Waterloo-Wellington Airport)